The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) is dedicated to protecting the Constitution by restoring the civil rights of registrants and their families. In order to achieve that objective, ACSOL will educate and litigate as well as support or oppose legislation. The ACSOL website and recordings are provided as a service to registrants, registrants’ families, and others for general information only. The information on the website and in the recordings are not designed to provide legal or other advice or to create an attorney-client relationship. You should not take, or refrain from taking, action based on their content. Prior results and case studies do not guarantee a similar outcome in future representations. ACSOL accepts no responsibility for any loss or damages that may result from accessing or reliance on content on the ACSOL website and recordings and disclaim, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all liability with respect to acts or omissions made by registrants, registrants’ families and others on the basis of content on the ACSOL website.
Important News / Announcements
Janice's Journal
General News Feed
UT: Ban polygraph tests for those who report sexual abuse, Utah lawmaker proposes
Source: sltrib.com 1/23/24 A recent investigation from The Tribune and ProPublica showed the damaging effects a polygraph test had on one Utahn who reported that his therapist had touched him inappropriately during sessions. Utah could soon ban government officials from asking alleged sexual assault victims to undergo a polygraph test — joining a growing list of states that bar the practice. Rep. Angela Romero,...
CA Survey: Did CDCR spend your parolee $200 release allowance for you?
Source: rootandrebound.org and prisonerswithchildren.org [ACSOL's comment: CA parolees, ex-parolees, and supporters, please take a few moments to take this survey share your personal experiences with CDCR spending your parolee $200 allowance.] From: Claudia J. Gonzalez, [email protected] As advocates for justice and fairness, we need your help to address an ongoing issue affecting individuals released or paroled from California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)...
WA Dems propose adding sex offender to policy board: ‘They have invaluable information’
Source: cbs12.com 1/22/24 OLYMPIA, Wash. (TND) — A Democrat-backed bill would alter Washington State’s Sex Offender Policy Board (SOPB) to extend membership to individuals with previous jail time for sex offenses. The SOPB was formed in 2008 to “promote a coordinated and integrated response to sex offender management.” The group is responsible for creating policies regarding sex offenders and navigating state and federal laws...
OK: Oklahoma Bill Would Ban Sending Sexy Selfies Unless You’re Married
Source: reason.com 1/22/24 It could also outlaw any sort of sexualized image, play, or performance, pornographic or not. An anti-porn bill in Oklahoma is so extreme that it could even make sexting outside of a marriage a crime. The wide-reaching bill would make merely viewing "obscene materials" a felony. It would also restrict "unlawful porn" distribution and production—with enforcement possible through both criminal prosecution...
ACSOL/FAC Florida Action Alert 1/22 Deadline: Fight SB 1230 and HB 1235 (Travel, Residence, Registration)
Source: Florida Action Committee (FAC) 1/21/24 Attention Florida residents: Deadline to take action is Monday, January 22! What you need to know about the dangerous SB 1230 and HB 1235 bills: SB 1230 and HB 1235 are identical bills where our legislators are attempting to amend the Sexual Predators Act (FS 775.21) and the Sexual Offenders Act (943.0435). SB 1230 is on the agenda...
ACSOL Online Meeting February 17, 2024
You are invited to join ACSOL Executive Director and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci and an ACSOL board member for our next meeting. The meeting will be held on Saturday February 17, online on Zoom beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific time, 1:00 PM Eastern, and will last at least two hours. You can use the Zoom app or you can call in using a Zoom...
Change IS afoot at CASOMB – Occasional Musings by the President of ACSOL, Catherine L. Carpenter
Occasional Musings by the President Change IS afoot at CASOMB By Catherine L. Carpenter President, Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws Slowly, change is taking place at California Sex Offense Management Board (CASOMB). It is not change with a capital “C,” nor is it the widespread overhaul ACSOL is demanding. But even small positive changes are important in an advocacy movement. So, I want...
AR: Lawsuit Filed Challenging Halloween Sign Requirement in Arkansas County
Source: ACSOL A lawsuit was filed on January 18 challenging a Halloween sign requirement in Marion County, Arkansas. The Halloween sign was created by the government and a registration officer taped the sign to the front door of a registrant's home. The sign was required to be posted for about two weeks, one week before Halloween and one week after Halloween. According to the...
CA: Number of CA Registrants Continues to Decline
Source: ACSOL The number of individuals required to register in California continues to decline, according to a report made by the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) during the January 18 meeting of the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB). Specifically, the number of individuals required to register decreased by 896 from 105,738 to 104,842 between November 2023 and January 2024. Of that total,...
IL: How Illinois Housing Banishment Laws Push People into Homelessness and Prison
Source: boltsmag.org 1/16/24 Organizers with past sex offense convictions are championing a bill in the state legislature that could end the cycle and roll back residency restrictions. James Orr was in his apartment in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side one Wednesday morning in 2013 when he heard his phone buzz. “James, you have 30 days to move,” an Illinois state police officer...
OH: Want to Watch Porn in Ohio? New Bill Would Require Viewers to Show ID
Source: thedailybeast.com 1/16/24 A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Ohio have proposed a new bill that would require porn sites to verify the age of their users in the state in a bid to keep explicit online content out of the hands of minors. Senate Bill 212, as it’s known, mandates that would have would-be degenerates submit a photo of their state ID or...
Case brought to Supreme Court by herring fishermen may gut federal rulemaking power
Source: scotusblog.com 1/16/24 The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Wednesday in a case involving the deference that courts should give to federal agencies’ interpretations of the laws that they administer. From health care to finance to environmental pollutants, administrative agencies use highly trained experts to interpret and carry out federal laws. Although the case may sound technical, it is one of the...
Will the Supreme Court gut SORNA or overturn the Gundy decision in the Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo hearing?
Source: jdsupra.com One of the most significant areas of the law for businesses is administrative law. From questions about a new industry-specific regulation to marshaling a defense against enforcement proceedings, any entity that is subject to government regulations has an interest in developments in administrative law. Key U.S. Supreme Court decisions in recent years have significantly cabined the role of federal agencies and opened...
Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on homelessness
Source: scotusblog.com 1/12/24 The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether an Oregon city can enforce its ban on public camping against homeless people. The announcement came as part of a short list of orders released from the justices’ private conference earlier in the day adding five new cases to the court’s merits docket. The court’s ruling in City of Grants Pass v....
Action Alert for CA: Time to Sign Up For Lobby Day on March 6 (changed from 5th) in Sacramento
It's time to sign up for Lobby Day in Sacramento. The day will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 6th (updated 2/1) with a training session at the Hyatt Hotel, 1209 L Street. Participants in Lobby Day must attend the training session. All participants will be assigned to a team led by an experienced team leader. The focus of Lobby Day is...
CA: CASOMB Issues Report Proposing Changes to Tiered Registry Law
The California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) has issued a report which recommends to the state legislature several changes to the Tiered Registry Law. If the legislature adopts these changes, thousands of individuals required to register who are currently ineligible to petition for removal from the registry will become eligible. However, no one will be automatically removed from the registry if the legislature adopts...
AL: Alabama cannot ban sex offender parents from living with kids, US judge rules
Source: reuters.com 1/11/24 Alabama only state with such a broad ban, according to judge Alabama has filed a notice of appeal Jan 11 (Reuters) - An Alabama law that bars people convicted of a sex offense involving a minor from living with a child, including their own, unconstitutionally violates the rights of parents to care for their children, a federal judge has ruled. U.S....
FL: Florida human trafficking database with names and mugshots of perverts caught paying for sex VANISHES after lawmakers failed to agree to extend it
Source: dailymail.co.uk 1/10/24 Florida's database with names and mugshots of people convicted of paying for sex suddenly disappeared on January 1, 2024. The Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database was launched at the start of 2021, and racked up a list of hundreds of offenders, according to ABC. The Database mysteriously vanished on January 1, 2024, along with a message saying that 'the section requiring the...
Ban Government Involvement In Sex Trafficking
Source: public.substack.com 1/9/24 It sounds like a Hollywood movie. Government intelligence agencies, perhaps CIA and Mossad, use sex with dozens of teenage girls to blackmail some of the world’s most powerful people, including Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, and Bill Clinton. But it’s not a movie. It appears to be what New York investor Jeffrey Epstein did from the 1990s until 2018. One year later,...
EFF Asks Court to Uphold Federal Law That Protects Online Video Viewers’ Privacy and Free Expression
Source: eff.org 1/4/24 As millions of internet users watch videos online for news and entertainment, it is essential to uphold a federal privacy law that protects against the disclosure of everyone’s viewing history, EFF argued in court last month. For decades, the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) has safeguarded people’s viewing habits by generally requiring services that offer videos to the public to get...